Dalby, Queensland, Australia
I'm camped in the bush on red pebbles and it got cold enough last night to have a frost. After 12 hours of sleep I woke to the sun warming me up and a raucous bird squawking outside my tent. I'm in the Outback, just barely.
But before that adventure begins, I have to fill you in on my 3 weeks of rest and fulfillment with the Pinwill family. It's the longest time I've been off the bike in over a year and it felt great to take a long break. I didn't plan to be off that long, but a series of events just led up to it. And then, in the end, I had to tear myself away. Got just a bit too comfortable and happy:-)
April and I met Kathryn and Michael while we were walking the Kepler Track in New Zealand on a rainy day in a shelter. Their chipper spirits and warmth connected us easily. The next day we climbed up to the ridge line catching up with them...they'd started early knowing it was to be a long day. And they said that if we ever got up around Brisbane in Australia, to look them up. And I did!
Kathryn teaches Kindy at a private girls school in town. Michael does IT for a trucking company. And then there's Jacob, 5, in his Prep yr in school and practicing his politician's charm...and Lukey (he'll hate that nickname when he's older), who's 2 and loves trains...and bulldozers..."I need that bulldozer." And they all won my heart. Kathryn has the quietest most attentive nature with the boys. And they respond...usually...and sometimes surprising even her. It was a delightful environment. Few tears. No shouting. No crazy rushing in the morning. (Her way with kids reminded me a lot of my children's Montessori teacher and dear friend, Sigrit VanDamme, as she is like this when working with children...it's a wonder to behold.). And I got to play gramma and was in my glory!
As Kathryn was on school holidays when I arrived, she decided we should drive out into the Outback to Bollon, a rural community where she first taught school for 3 years. We would be able to stay with friends on the station, Glencoe, (75,000 acre ranch) they live on and manage. Oh boy!! So off the kids, Kathryn, and I went for 2 nights there. It's a 5 hour drive, 6 with stops. We stopped off at a Pony Club event where Barb, from Glencoe, was helping out all week with daughter and grandson. As an ex-Pony Clubber, it was fun to see all the kids and their horses! On to Glencoe trying to not hit a kangaroo in the dark. That was exhausting to try and see them along side the road. They keep the bush mowed back from roads to make this easier for drivers because roos come out at dusk. Then trying to find the station when it had been 10 years since Kathryn had been back. They moved it closer to town!!
The entry no one uses, most likely. But isn't it cute?
The country kitchen that I loved!
My bedroom, just adorable! Love the bed!!
The old house was so quaint. A step back in time. A wrap-around veranda provides cool shade to the house and it's inhabitants. Tong and grove walls inside. Felt much like an old lake cottage might be. No insulation. Simple cupboards. Windows opening onto the veranda. An old iron bed. I loved it!
And Kev was a sweetheart putting us up while his wife, Barb, was away. We brought all our food so he wouldn't have to do that. And just made ourselves at home.
In the morning, it was an early rise because Kev had planned a shearing just for us. He had mustered a mob of sheep up to the wool shed the day before. His son, xxxxx, is a master shearer, and he was delighted to strut his stuff. The woodshed us centrally located so we had a ride in utes through the station and about 6-8 gates to get there. I was in my glory. Kathryn said I never stopped smiling! It was just like McLeod's Daughters (the Aussie TV show...Netflix). It's winter here, not shearing time, but they did clip 3 sheep just to show us. I wanted them to duct step their coats back on because they were going to freeze!
She doesn't look happy about this...but resigned.
Fascinating for all of us!
Dogs really do walk the sheep.
We got a tour of the where they used to dip the sheep, run them through disinfectant. They shower them now, I think he said. Then off to see the bulldozers. And Lukey wouldn't get out of the ute. Too big. Too scary. I guess. In order to keep the brush down for the cattle to graze, the drag the paddocks about ever 10 years, leaving lines of trees for shade for them. This is a continuous process. They drag a massive chain between two bulldozes to down the trees and shrubs. Then after they've dried, they burn the paddock, getting rid of the trees and refreshing the soil. Grass then grows.
Donny and me in the ute!
This calf was born early...in winter...they were a bit surprised to see him!
Isn't Kev your classic Aussie rancher? I loved meeting him! And the stories he told...
After this station tour, we headed into the sweet village of Bollon which consisted of a school, police station, fire hall (actually 2: they had to build a new one when the new fire engine wouldn't fit into the old one!), a hotel, a cafe/store, and a few other farming businesses. It was an hour's drive to get groceries! But these folks drive a lot! We met another son of Barb and Kev's when he came into town for pizza, an hour's drive one way from his station. Really!! His wife was at the Pony Club meet:)
A tour of the park, met up with old friends, saw the school and Kathryn's old house. Had to be hard to be 23 and living so remotely with not much going on. Gave me a taste of rural Australian life. Thanks to everyone for that! (Especially Kathryn...she had to drive!)
Lukey and me:-)
Big town of Bollon.
The following week turned cold, so I couldn't leave then. I'll just wait for this cold snap to pass. So this week I got invited up to give a talk at Glennie, the girls school where Kathryn worked. It's always a treat for me to meet and chat with kids.
I Aldo spent their lunch hour out in the courtyard and was so busy answering questions I didn't think to get pictures. But I was written up in their newsletter.
I've had a problem with pictures and run out of space. I have over 6000 from this last year and they're all on my iPad and it's filled all 64 gb. I thought when I backed it up to iCloud they were backed up. Silly me. I don't know what it backs up, but not photos. So I started the long learning process of various backup options with Apple. And one: Photo Sharing seemed right. Until it crashed my whole iPad and it got stuck on the Apple boot up screen. Oh No!!!!! I went to bed that night thinking I'd lost everything. Kathryn and Michael had offered to drive me 1.5 hours to Brisbane to the Apple store to see if they could fix it. But I plugged it in all night, as one forum suggested, and it worked! But the Photos app still would not go to the screen I needed to make more Shared Albums. And I must say when it worked, it worked quickly. I thought I could be done backing up in a day. I also decided I needed a hard drive to back them up on so they would be in 2 places. Michael offered me space on his, but when the pictures uploaded they lost their original date. What chaos that would be! Like a big box of 6000+ pics all dumped on the floor. Thanks but no thanks! And I figured out how to back them up to Flickr but that took hours and hours and hours. Sometimes one video would take an hour all by itself. So I spent the last week tethered to my iPad and their wifi. I got everything through June of this year done. The rest will just stay on the iPad and the hard drive. Lesson: take fewer pictures. No one will ever see most of these, but they are my memories.
A few more shots from my stay with this lovely family. A couple of weekends we went hiking. Once to Tabletop nearby. What a scramble up that was!
Jacob, me, and Luke in the back seat:)
The Pinwills! I love this shot!!
And another weekend up to the Bunya Mountains where Michael's mom joined us. It was a treat to meet her. I got to read the story of her and Don, Michael's dad. They settled further north when they were young on a Dry Block, land with no water, supposedly, and what a tough, remote, and wonderful life it was! "Whatever It Takes" by Don Pinwill was a treat to read. Hard times! Happy times!
I also got yo meet Kathryn's dad, Doug, but sadly have no photos of him. He was feeling poorly while I was there and the focus were having a hard time figuring things out. Hope you're feeling better soon, Doug.
So I think that's a quick wrap of three glorious weeks with a wonderful young Aussie family. As I often say "the Universe does a heck of a better job of planning than I do" and this is one example of that!
Thank you Kathryn, Michael, Jacob, and Luke!!!!!
Making brownies with Luke when I was babysitting one day.
Livin' the life!
BagLady
